West Ridge is on a four-game streak of home losses, and Volunteer a five-game streak of away losses. However, someone's due for a change in luck on Friday. The West Ridge Wolves will look to defend their home field against the Volunteer Falcons at 5:00 p.m. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Having struggled with four defeats in a row, West Ridge turned things around against Chuckey-Doak on Thursday. Their pitchers stepped up to hand the Black Knights a 10-0 shutout. Considering the Wolves' hitters had been struggling lately, the high-scoring outing was a much-needed turnaround.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Volunteer). They were the clear victors by a 10-0 margin over Claiborne on Thursday. The victory continues a trend for the Falcons in their matchups with the Bulldogs: they've now won seven in a row.
Gavin Hickernell was a major factor no matter where he played. He didn't allow a single earned run while striking out six over five innings pitched. He also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because Volunteer is 2-1 when he allows at most one earned run, but 4-16 otherwise. Hickernell was also solid in the batter's box, going 1-for-3 with one run and one RBI.
In other batting news, Volunteer let Luke Armstrong and Brycen Feagins run wild. Armstrong went a perfect 3-for-3 with three stolen bases, three RBI, and one run, while Feagins went 2-for-3 with five stolen bases and two runs. Those three stolen bases gave Armstrong a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Austin Williams, who went 1-for-2 with two runs, one stolen base, and one double.
Volunteer always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .586. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
West Ridge's win bumped their record up to 6-14. As for Volunteer, their victory bumped their record up to 6-17.
West Ridge was able to grind out a solid win over Volunteer when the teams last played back in April of 2024, winning 5-1. Do the Wolves have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Falcons turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
